**Official Dell XPS M1530 Owner's Lounge** - *Part 2*

The previous XPS M1530 Owner's Lounge thread was getting too large and slowing down forum search, so this is the new thread.

Original Link to XPS M1530 Owner's Lounge

Thanks!

 

Thanks for starting a new thread BatBoy!

I am going to attach the XPS 1530 Drivers Link here, since 1530 owners still like to use it/look for it!

Drivers & Downloads for XPS M1530

Hope that is helpful to some!

Cin...

 

Looking at installing intell 5300 wireless card on my 1530 . I have a dell 1490 dual card, and it has only two antennas. Where the intel 5300 has three antennas. I believe the 5300 will work with just two antennas. Just wondering about the performance when using just two instead of three.

 

Can someone help me please.

I have Sennheiser cx 300 earphones plugged into my XPS M1530, and the volume is far too loud even on volume setting 5 (out of 100).

I can't find anything in the Windows Vista x64 (or Windows 7 x64) audio settings to fine tune the volume.

Thanks.

 

You can open the Volume Control Panel.

Control Panel > Hardware and Sounds > Sounds > Adjust System Volume
Try tweaking it that way, see if it helps...That's what I did with my CX300's

Cin....

 

I think that the laptop has three wires antenna because you can see that under the wi-fi slot is written white wire, black wire and gray wire. The latter is not used with my 1505 n-card.

 

Hi, thanks for your response. I'm not really sure I follow your suggestion. :-(

When I go into Adjust System Volume, the sliders show that the Device and Applications volumes are at level 5.

The tweaking I had in mind was to try and adjust the master volume so that I could then use the volume slider to make fine adjustments.

When I take the earphones out, the volume over the loudspeaker is (as I would expect) far too low at level 5.

I just want to be able to use the full range of the volume slider when I use my earphones, but without blowing my eardrums.

 

hi to everyone: sadly my xps1530 had one motherboard failing too many and had to be replaced under warranty.
In their infinite wisdom Dell chose to send me an Alienware M15 and I didn't argue...slow, but not dumb!
Anyways the good part is Dell stepped up and replaced the laptop. Bad part is a really did enjoy the xps and would have wished for it to have resolved its issues along the way.
Sad part is I move forums over to the Alienware threads which means I don't get to chat and read posts by all the xps regulars: let me say thanks to all the guru's on here: you are a well meaning and experienced group that do a wonderful job helping both newbies and regulars resolve issues and maximize their XPS experience --- thanks to all!

 

Hey guys, I am looking at doing a fresh Win7 install. Are there any drivers or issues I should be aware of? Dell's site has no official Win7 drivers, the only one I know you can get is the 8600GT drivers on Nvidia's site.

What issues have any of you had? Like, say, will I be able to get the pop up to when I plug in a mic to select the mic, etc?

 

Yo guys.

Is it worth updrading from Win vista (modded so it runs smooth and fast) to Win7 in a M1530?

What would I notice from the upgrade? Is there a big performance improvement?
My vista runs very nicely.

 

I'm using Windows 7 since months ago (Beta and RC1) and it works flawlessly in my M1530, the only Dell drivers I used was QuickSet, SigmaTel Audio drivers and Touchpad drivers, I installed Nvidia drivers from Nvidia site and everything else was installed by Windows 7.

 

Oooh which Sigmatel? I'll install Win7 soon.

 

I've "gone native" onto a fresh Windows 7 install but have noticed a lot of annoying refresh flicker on right-click context menus and the cursor is pretty jittery too. Anyone get the same thing?

 

The ones provided by Dell for Vista64

 

After warranty ended i started having heating issues and replaced thermal paste with as5. Everything was running fine until today when I noticed that my gpu was heating up to 97C when gaming. Any ideas other than to replace thermal paste again?

 

Use the ones from SXPS 1645 works without issues...(Win7)

 

Click on the link in my sig..> Or open up and clean fan unit and may be use Arctic cooling MX-2 OR -3 thermal paste.

 

They are not so good..Yes that work but the drivers for SXPS 1645 are better.

 

Hi,

So the recommended drivers for the M1530 for Win7 is the SXPS 1645? I go to college, where we get free software via MSNDA, and Win7 was one of them. I own a Dell M1530, had it for a year now, got it with Vista Ultimate 32bit.

I installed Win7 and it kept crashing, telling me there were issues with computer?

I am training to be a computer programmer, but it had me stumped...any ideas? Or anyone else experienced the same?

Bobby

 

Which version of Win7 and any memory dump files when system crashes?
Try one ram only to see it the system boots up and runs without issues.

 

Hi

I've just installed Windows 7 documented it here.


http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=340751

 

Hi new here, I have been considering selling my desktop unit and was offered a xps m1530 for it. My question is, is it worth the trade? He said it has a LED screen of which I can find nothing about searching google, 2gb of ram , 8400m gs gpu ect.. how well does this laptop really do as far as gaming? He claims he was playing Resident evil 5 on it as well as Dead space without problems. The pc I was going to trade him for is:

9800 gtx+ gpu w/x2 dvi inputs
Phenom quadcore 2.50ghz
2gb performance ram
32bit windows 7/windows vista dual boot
smiledon case
kingwin 680 PSU
300gb main hdd
80gb slave
BIOSTAR TFORCE 780G ATX AMD Motherboard )
hardcano lcd temperature reader

ACCESSORIES
Saitek eclipse II keyboad
Wolfking trooper optical gaming mouse
Acer 22'inch lcd screen


Total value was over 1500$ in cost, please give me an opinion asap as he plans to come here tomorrow morning! ^^;

Also just how upgradable is it actually?

intel dual t7500 2.20gh 8400m geforce gs graphic card <- can either of those be upgraded and if not, how poor do they perform?

further more, how does it compare to the xps m1210? that was my previous laptop..and it was rather poor overall for my use. Is this a large improvment? (xps m1530)? thank you for your time!

 

If you're gonna use your laptop for gaming and/or multi tasking, then you should not take the M1530. Also, the GPU in the M1530 is NOT upgradable and it will fail some time soon, as they are all faulty.
The overall performance of 8400M GS is far worse than a desktop 9800GTX+, it's not even comparable.

 

thank you for your reply. I was thinking about if it could run emulators and be used for watching high resolution movies actually. Can it do either of those? Emulators such as MAME and Pcsx2 in particular. Would it be incapable of running even simple games such as MMO's ? (eg: FFXI) ? thank you

More to the point, how long should I expect it's lifespan before being totally outdated? I read that the gpu cannot be upgraded due to being soddered to the mobo itself however the cpu is very flexible and can be upgraded to the t9600?

 

any xps1530 gamers here using a notebook cooler?

which cooler you using and what temps you getting?

 

Hi Bat Boy,

I have been reading through the many forums on the Internet trying to find a very easy to understand (I am a novice), detailed, step-by-step process to do a Clean Install of Windows 7 on my Dell XPS M1530.

Through the advice of more than a couple of Dell Tech Support people, I have determined that in order to fix the many issues I have been having with Windows Vista (Registry problems), I needed to purchase the FULL VERSION of Windows 7 (versus an upgrade). I have done this.

I now have the disks (32-bit & 64-bit versions) for Windows 7, but am hesitant to start the install process because of all the conflicting information I have read in various Dell community forums. Because I am "technically challenged", I am not able to comprehend how my XPS M1530 will work after I complete a Clean Install of Windows 7. It is my understanding that by doing a Clean Install all the data on my hard drive will be wiped out. So, since this is the case, how will my laptop's fingerprint reader, WLAN application, Dell QuickSet, or any of the other things that came pre-loaded onto my Dell when I purchased it a year ago be able to work after I load Windows 7?

I have been very impressed with your postings on a variety of subjects regarding the operation of the Dell XPS M1530 and was hoping that you could come to my rescue with a source for an easy to understand guide for installing Windows 7 on my model of Dell.

Here are the specs on my laptop (from Dell QuickSet) just in case you need to know what I have:

OS Name: Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Version: 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2 Build 6002
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: XPS M1530
System Type: X86-based PC
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU [email protected], 2101 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)

BIOS Version/Date: Dell Inc. A12, 11/19/2008
SMBIOS Version: 2.4
Windows Directory: C:\Windows
System Directory: C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume3
Locale: United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer: Version = "6.0.6002.18005"

Installed Physical Memory (RAM): 4.00 GB
Total Physical Memory: 3.50 GB
Available Physical Memory: 2.18 GB
Total Virtual Memory: 7.19 GB
Available Virtual Memory: 5.76 GB
Page File Space: 3.79 GB
Page File: C:\pagefile.sys


PLEASE HELP ME! :confused2:

 

Same here. I finally got rid of M$ and total low-level format, and converted into Ubuntus 64-bit install. Superhappy with all, except suddenly found out GPU temp suddenly VERY HIGH and the box turned itself off! after getting hooked up in Secondlife for too long.
Not a gamer, but had to try and out of it now, because of lack of 64-bit support from SL.
I have NEVER had this issue before and for the last 15?yrs i have had the system-monitor in the tray.
I can not see that fan is dirty, I have hadled it like a baby , and its all worth it!! But maybe a good tip to replace thermal paste?
It's been like a charm and in use from day one, even with the buggy Vista and lack of drivers/bios for the first 6 mnonths I had it. (feb 08 - aug 08)

I'll try cleaning and replace paste and post back again. Right now just surfing, 83C on the CPU's and 93C on the GPU! Better turn off.

PS. running dual head, and have done for the last 6 months

 

Just back from a quick-fix. Sunday so no thermal paste to get.
I have previously looked at the fan and it was not THAT dirty. But after taking the whole fan and copper away I studied the out-canal, almost impossible to get a straight look against a light sourse, and "played" the out canal like a harmonica a couple of times - and out came quite a lot of dust. I was very careful not to get any on the contact spots, and after removing a lot of the excess paste, described in many other threads, I took one of the SMALL pieces on GPU and CPU, and finished the assembling.
I am glad to report my new temps:

they are now 53C on the CPU and 62 on the GPU!!

I could not belive my luck, because i was anxious about how I treated one of the screw-fittings on the main-board.
So far so good. And it all turned out good, for now.

22 months of dust collecting, and yes i smoke, made the cooling rather critical.

temps now before I finish:

cpu: 52C
Gpu: 64C

 

Ive tried searching but couldnt find a thread for it.

What overclock settings are people getting on their 8600m gt?
i wouldomeone could point me to the right thread I would be most appreciative.

Mine are
core ROP 702
core Shader 1404
memory clock 702

how far should I push the memory?

 

I'm currently using Targus Lap Chill Mat AWE55US (Black with Gray), its very light and perfect when you are playing on your lap. I don't use the fan but when I turned it on its a bit loud. I used to have Zalman NC2000, it was doing a great job of cooling the system but that thing was really heavy! Hope this helps.

 

Does anyone have a list of the latest drivers for the XPS 1530 like the old XPS Wiki site had?

The Dell drivers are almost 3 years old in some cases, I would prefer to not have to update each driver after install. I want to slipstream all the drivers into new installation media.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

hi...im noticing a bit of FPS drop in dead space from 60 to 15 fps when a lot of monsters are on screen (same on low quality)....(have gpu slightly overclocked)...

This causes stuttery slowdown....im guessing its a driver issues but i could be wrong....

i have the old 176.44 drivers...

which new drivers would you guys recommend that worked for you and gave a noticeable stable difference on dead space, fallout 3, fear and the like...?

any advice appreciated

 

Totally wrong.

Just some are faulty, but people tend to think that all are faulty because of 4-5 threads running around. Of course those threads DON'T speak for even the 20% of M1530 users.

 

I have to agree with Kilador. I have put my m1530 through its paces. I have run fps's, more than 20 web pages at a time with other programs running. I even left it in my notebook case outside during a tropical rainstorm in the Bahamas. If that humidity and my travels, including "squeezing it into hotel safes scratching off some paint haven't killed it in the 1.5 years that I've had it then I think that it will only fail when not taken care of properly, or if you are unlucky and get a faulty gpu. The GPU isn't upgradeable, but it is overclockable.

 

My 1530 won't shut down unless I hold the off button. I remember a fix for this from a long while ago, but I can't find it.

Does anyone have a solution?

Thanks.

 

have mine for 2 years and ..."knock wood" still running....put w7 on it..more ram and it's like a new pc all over again...

 

Found this possible solution in another thread from LarryMoeCurly:

"Worked for me on a 1520, but I did download a whole bunch of vista updates too.
******If this was your solution thanks, and sorry for not remembering who posted it******
Anyway there solution was.....

Control Panel
-Device Manager
-Network Adapter
-Wireless Card
- Power Management (If you don't see this select another wireless card)
- Uncheck all boxes
Last edited by LarryMoeCurly : 09-02-2008 at 02:04 AM. "

 

Off topic maybe. I just bought a bluetooth headset Motorola s305 i think and my XPS has bluetooth, however its not listed in Device manager for some reason. Guessing its the 355 module. Did some research but everyone has different answers. I want it to be able to do A2dp so i can listen to music on it. Anyone have any definitive drivers that work?

 

Hello Everyone

Dell has sent a new xps m1530 on 22-10-2008. it was the 3rd replacement system made from dell. my warranty has been expired on 22-10-2009 as it came with one year complete cover. i never renewed the warranty.

Till now my system never had any problems.

My question is:
1. since the system warranty has been lapsed, is it worth to renew my warranty at additional cost including re-certifying?

2. if my GPU fails in near future, is it possible to replace xps m1530 mainboard with any other board(like Intel)?

 

Your motherboard is under warranty until 22/10/10, due to the nvidia extended warranty which Dell have put out to effected systems. See here

Hope this helps

Adam

 

I'm having a similar problem. Video is out for the second time...not sure if it's covered..

Warranty Extension Notice * Start Date End Date
XPS Technical Support DELL No 12/30/2008 12/29/2010
Next Business Day Support QLX No 2/30/2008 12/29/2010


Would It be covered under the nvidia extended warranty?

 

It should be because the Nvidia issue is with the GPU. Hop onto Dell Chat to see if they can assist you.

Adam

 

Thanks Adam. I'll do that.

 

getting my mb replaced. wooo!

 

How did this work out? I am looking for a N mini-card and was looking for someone with personal experience.

 

Greetings, all.

I have had a Dell XPS1530 for a bit over three years now, and I've been delighted with it. Had put Win7 on it about three months ago, its been one of the least troublesome migrations ever.

Until today.

I had done nothing more than set the machine down and close the lid, left the room for a few minutes, came back, raised the lid, and the machine would not come out of sleep mode. Dead.

So far, I can see that the power light in the front center is illuminated. I tried a hard power-down by holding the main power button, and it looked for an isntant as that was going to work - the normal startup lights across the CD buttons lit, and I thought it was going to boot - but it stopped, the power button light went off, and the main power light in the front just stayed on.

I have removed the battery, and connected directly to AC power. No joy. I removed the battery and let the machine sit overnight with no power of any kind; no joy. I have removed and reseated the RAM modules. I tried the Fn-Power sequence, and the first light blinks which I believe means its trying to turn control over to the CPU, which to me makes sense if the power system thinks the machine is asleep.

When the power comes on, the hard drive spins up, and I can hear the CD/DVD drive reset. After that sequence, the fans and drive spins back down, all of which tells me the system's core BIOS is still, at some level, intact. I personally think something in the magnetic lid switch circuit has failed, making the system think the lid is closed and the system should be asleep.

Short of that, I have no other ideas. I can't fathom this box would be dead out of thin air in that way, but I suppose stranger things have happened. A new laptop surely wasn't in the budget for this year, so I'd surely like to hear any ideas on what I might do to bring it back to life. There's surely at least another year of life left in this gadget!

Thanks,
David

 

David:

If you remove the power sources when the laptop is in sleep mode, it turns off instantly, as it needs power to mantain the sleep mode.
Hibernate is different, but follows the same process as a normal booting.

Dunno what to advice but trying to indentify the component which is causing the issue (motherboard, screen, AC adaptor..) and start working from there =/

 

I understand that sleep mode requires power. Sorry if my post suggested I thought otherwise

Yeah, that's the trail I'm on - was hoping perhaps someone might have had similar experience on this laptop and might have some "aha!" wisdom to share.

At this point, I'm getting ready to print out instructions to remove the system board and remove and replace the CMOS battery in case the last power mode/state was recorded in volatile memory backed by that battery. Longshot, but I've read one or two suggestions in that vein. I've also read that folks with this problem have torn down the laptop to retrieve a trapped CD, but when they rebuild the unit, it magically works, as if the proces of disconnecting everything "reset" something. We'll see.

THanks,
David

 

Is it possible to replace XPS M1530 main board with any other main boards with/without NVIDIA Chipset?
ve heard in the post here in NBR few ppl have replaced the main board with Intel chipset?
but ey haven't showed up the way on how to replace the board or the specific model of the board that fits XPS M 1530.

ty

 

8400M GT / 8600M GT are your only options out there.